Arland Dean Williams Jr

 

Passenger of Air Florida Flight 90....

On January 13, 1982, during an extraordinary period of freezing weather a flight Air Florida, 90 took off from Washington National Airport bound for Miami. Instantly after take-off, it shuddered and shook, failing to gain highness. It crashed into the 14th Street Bridge and slid into the icy Potomac River where it hit six cars and a truck on the bridge, killing four motorists.

When the flight smashed into a frozen lake in the middle of a snowstorm and only a flight attendant and five passengers survived the crash, clinging to the tail section of the plane. Among these people, there was an incredible personality. He was Arland Dean Williams Jr. which born on the 23rd of September 1935 in Mattoon Illinois US. He worked as a bank examiner. He was the father of two.  According to his high school girlfriend, Williams had been nervous about The Citadel’s swimming requirement, as he had always had a fear of water.

After this terrible accident when the rescue helicopter arrived a helicopter arrived to rescue the survivors 20 minutes later after getting one man to safety the helicopter threw a life ring to Ireland Williams who immediately gave it to the passenger next to him.  When the helicopter came back for the third time he did the same things again and again when the helicopter came back a final time Ireland was dead. Arland Dean Williams the person who fears water used his last ounce of strength to save strangers. At the time of his death, he was employed as a bank examiner with Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta, Georgia.

Because of this unbelievable hero, the 14th Street Bridge was renamed the Arland D. Williams, Jr. Memorial Bridge. And, his hometown of Mattoon has been named an elementary school with his honor.

 

Mister Arland was retrospectively awarded the Coast Guard Gold Lifesaving Medal by President Ronald Reagan. The Citadel, the college from which he’d graduated, started the Arland D. Williams, Jr. Society to honor students for remarkable community service. The school also created the Arland D. Williams Endowed Professorship of Heroism.